RS – why don’t they try to resurrect the original spirit of the movement, if that’s the case? Go back to basics?

Because it just seems like headless chickens, who haven’t a clue what to do, other than bury their heads in the sand, and hope for the best. Which can only possibly lead to bankruptcy. And the implications of a company like the Co-op folding really doesn’t bare thinking about. The effect it would have on the already fragile economy of the North West would be absolutely cataclysmic.

The structure is the thing which will save it – there are a number of independent co-ops, which come together to make up the group, the individual co-ops will survive even if the group goes to the wall – it might look different afterwards, and it will mean that things like the bank wither on the vine, (because they are owned by the group not the co-ops themselves) and the areas where there is no independent cooperative will probably lose their stores, but the structure which makes it difficult if not impossible to change the structure is also the thing which will mean the co-op is here to stay.

The Co-op got in this mess because it listened to those at the Bank who said that they needed to be “more like other businesses”; their differences aren’t the problem… it’s where they try to be like other companies, and, obviously, not being nearly as capable in that form, fail.

Take TV advertising… they used to avoided wasting their member’s money on an expensive advertising channel… then they tried to sell themselves ASDA/Tesco/Sainsburys style… but couldn’t out spend, or out manoeuvre these market leaders. They also tried to rhyme “food” with “good“. Embarrassing.

Maybe it’s a regional thing with the quality of the stores.
I’ve started using our local Co-op more recently (down South).
The prices are competitive with Sainsbury and Waitrose (not to difficult I admit) and the stock levels are always good with a reasonable choice. The staff are good and efficient.
Mind, I go in early on a Saturday when it’s normally only me and a couple of dozen old biddies, so I’m done and out before they’ve finished discussing their lumbago etc in the middle of the aisles.

Things change. There used to be a factory in Worksop that produced glass bottles solely for Co-Op Dairies. Worksop kept producing when taken over by Rockware until the furnace life ran out. Dairy Farmers of Great Britain succeeded Co-Op Dairy for a while until it went bust, our milk is delivered by a smaller outfit now.
Huge and nationwide to tiny in the short time it has taken for most milk to come in plastic from the supermarket.

One thing I wont miss- Pick up a bottle of wine after seeing the promotion banner on the front of the shelf, scans in at the till- its twice the price. So you bring the ticket/tab over- show. No sorry luv its wrong.

Wrong or your EPOS system hasn’t been updated for promotions?
Wrong or you’ve been lazy, too busy talking to go round with the price change sheers

Wrong or you’ve been too lazy to go round with a price scanner to recheck prices are correct currently?

This DOES happen in the big supermarkets- rare but when it does they apologise and scan it through.

In Co-Op (my experiences) they act like you are a vagrant swettily aiming for cheap booze.

One thing I wont miss- Pick up a bottle of wine after seeing the promotion banner on the front of the shelf, scans in at the till- its twice the price. So you bring the ticket/tab over- show. No sorry luv its wrong.

Dear god!! I do think every Co-Op must be the same then. That used to drive me mad at the one near us. The price on the shelf bore absolutely no resemblance to what you’d be charged when they scanned it. Wine seemed to be the worst for it. And it wouldn’t be a quid difference. It would be literally double the price. Another reason we just ended up going to Sainsbury’s instead

I understood it that the first £1.5bn was from the bank and the other £500m was from the other areas – retail, pharmacies, travel, agriculture, electrical, legal services and funerals – by comparison, Woolies was small, so it’s hardly a comparison.

My business account is with them but I fear I’ll be tanking it elsewhere shortly.

Some of their new shops are nice but the one by us (now closed) was crap, we never went in. The fresh stuff was mostly rotten

The bank is near-as-dammit separately owned from the rest of the group. TBH the bank, in spite of its mess, is the success story of this debacle and will emerge intact IMO. Albeit no longer owned by the co-op “group”.

I think the rest of the group can come out of the other side, but it’s going to be an unpleasant process, and it will look quite different at the end of it.

And I agree that their supermarket business is pretty dire. But that’s true of all the supermarkets bar one: Booths. (And possibly Waitrose on a good day.)

Not defending his actions but Paul Flowers was chairman of the public board for the bank, a position open for any of the coop’s members could apply for.
essentially if you have a members card (like a nectar card or tesco club card) you could have applied for the job.

in reality he didnt actually have any power over the bank – more of a liason between the bank and coop members – another thing that the media failed to mention.

It seems absolutely bonkers. You’ve got Sainsburies, Tesco etc (who know a thing or two about the subject) saying that the future of retail is small local units rather than big out-of-town mega-shops.

Well thats probably very much part of the problem for Co-op’s stores, its not to their advantage that big chains have realised that, its to their detriment- its their market that tesco, sainsburies, and more lately morrisons are now fighting over.

Although the competition is getting harder, coop stores have an advantage of an already well established network of stores – if you look at some of the stores that tesco, sainsburys etc are taking, they’re far from ideal – old pubs, churches etc.